Crazy extremes of wet and dry weather have both drenched and scorched the USA in the first half of the year.

How crazy? Waterlogged Pensacola, Fla., has received more than 200 times as much rain as bone-dry Las Vegas, which has had only one rainy day this year, Feb. 28, when about one-third of an inch fell.

Though Las Vegas is admittedly in the desert Southwest, the tiny amount is still quite paltry, about one-sixth what the city would usually get at this point in the year. Southwest hot spot Yuma, Ariz., has received less than one-tenth of an inch of rain this year.

The entire state of California — which had its warmest winter on record — slipped into drought conditions this spring, with nearly a third of the state in "exceptional" drought, the worst level. The state is enduring its worst drought since the 1970s. "Unprecedented" May wildfires scorched parts of the state.

On the flip side, torrential rain swamped the Southeast this spring, with April being the worst month. Mobile, Ala., had its wettest April ever, with a foot and a half of rain. The worst of the rain in Pensacola was in late April, when almost 2 feet fell in two days, leading to widespread flooding, sinkholes, road closures and record-high river levels.

Overall, for much of the year, the reason for the split weather pattern was a persistent ridge of high pressure over the western half of the USA, which was balanced by a trough of low pressure in the East, climate scientist Jake Crouch of the National Climatic Data Center said earlier this year.

High pressure usually brings clear skies, while low pressure brings clouds and precipitation.

Other wild weather from the year's first six months:

• A massive mudslide in Oso, Wash., in March, fueled by weeks of unusually heavy rain, killed at least 42 people, making it the third-deadliest in U.S. history.

• The brutally cold winter brought near-record levels of ice to the Great Lakes, wreaking havoc with shipping and wildlife. The ice persisted into June in Lake Superior, the latest on record.

• Detroit picked up an all-time record 7.9 feet of snow for the entire winter season of 2013-14, more than twice the city's average.

• Two inches of snow in Atlanta in late January brought the city to its knees, stranding motorists and school buses overnight. The same storm brought snow as far south as the Florida Panhandle.

• After a very quiet start to the severe weather season, a savage outbreak of tornadoes killed 33 people in the Midwest and South in late April, with the deadliest hitting Arkansas on April 27. June has also seen a flurry of tornadoes in the Plains, the most active June for tornadoes in at least four years.

• Through the end of May, Alaska was baking through its second-warmest year on record. The state had its warmest January since 1985.

Sources: National Climatic Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service